Firefox 8 Released today

Published on November 9, 2011 By DrJBHL In Personal Computing

Mozilla released Ff 8 today, seven weeks after their last version.

So what’s new?

Ff 8 features for the new browser releases (Win, Mac, Linux and mobile for Android) include Twitter search integration, on-demand tab group loading, and more WebGL graphics hardware acceleration support. Mozilla has added "support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS), which lets developers load WebGL textures from other domains in a secure way." according to them but Microsoft and Apple disagree as to the safety of WebGL. Mozilla has added to the Android version of Firefox 8 a Master Password feature to protect all the logins used on the device.

Ff 8 also includes a new security feature (always a good thing) preventing extensions from adding other third party extensions without the user’s consent (and frequently, knowledge).

The user is now given an opt-in. Upon upgrading, the new version will ask users to select their add-ons. You aren’t told expressly (at least I wasn’t) which extension is new, however you should be cognizant which you have (and why) so pay close attention during the installation.

You can get Ff8 here: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ or by navigating to Help>About Firefox and restarting the browser.

According to PCMagazine :

Pros
More-efficient memory usage and faster startup than previous versions. Panorama tab group organizes sites. Excellent standards support. Cool bookmark organization with Panorama. Pinned sites for all-the-time access. Syncing for tabs, history, passwords and more. Graphics hardware acceleration. Cross-platform.

Cons
Update breaks some extensions. Still trails Chrome and IE9 on some benchmarks. Lacks client-side tracking protection like that of IE9. Lacks Chrome's built in Flash, PDF reader, and Instant page view. Trails Chrome in HTML5 support. No new-tab page helpers. Slower startup than Chrome and IE9.

Bottom Line
Firefox remains a lean, fast, customizable browser that can hold its own against any competitor, especially with its graphics hardware acceleration. Version 7 adds much-desired memory usage trimming. – PCMagazine ( http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2349494,00.asp#fbid=xcx2wnb3dyP )

By the way… be careful what you tweet, and write…. the “vengeful librarians” are watching… do read Sarah Yin’s article here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395904,00.asp#fbid=gBAx1czPwy7

Sources:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2349494,00.asp#fbid=gBAx1czPwy7

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396043,00.asp#fbid=gBAx1czPwy7

Comments (Page 2)

RiddleKing

on Nov 10, 2011

Jafo

reply 15

Quoting StevenAus, reply 9I don't know, I feel kinda annoyed how they add a few new features, and then "suddenly" we have a whole new browser version. It wasn't that long ago that Firefox was still using 3s, and now we're up to 8 almost within a year or so! I think they're trying to kid everyone that the browser is advancing so much faster than all the other ones, "because after all, the version numbers are increasing so fast, it must be a lot better!".

Several proggies have gone this route.... when the competition has a higher ver number it IS perceived as 'superior' or more developed/newer.

PSP and PS tended to do it over the years too.

oh dear the number game. The industry is switching to the number game! .. yet apple doesn't do it.. i wonder why mmmh..

edit

i figured it out. Cos they don't have to.

StevenAus22

on Nov 10, 2011

In the end though, if other factors make your program not very good, high version numbers will not save you.

unacomn

on Nov 10, 2011

Damn! At this rate they'll release Firefox 12, before Opera 12 gets a final version. Seriously, I switched to my back-up PC after the other one went poof last month, and Firefox updated 4 versions, and now another one.( I stopped using this PC in march).

I really hope EA and Activision don't get wind of this.

Jafo

on Nov 10, 2011

RiddleKing

reply 16

oh dear the number game. The industry is switching to the number game! .. yet apple doesn't do it.. i wonder why mmmh..

edit

i figured it out. Cos they don't have to.

Er...they do....but then they mooved on to naming each release OS after some furr ball or other.

BTW... IPhone 5, anyone? Oh Noes!!!! It's ONLY another 4 and a bit....

StevenAus22

on Nov 10, 2011

Well, so it's been *less* than a year since the last Firefox 3 version was released.

RiddleKing

on Nov 10, 2011

Jafo

reply 19

Quoting RiddleKing, reply 16oh dear the number game. The industry is switching to the number game! .. yet apple doesn't do it.. i wonder why mmmh..

edit

i figured it out. Cos they don't have to.

Er...they do....but then they moved on to naming each release OS after some furr ball or other.

BTW... I-Phone 5, anyone? Oh Noes!!!! It's ONLY another 4 and a bit....

Your missing the point: There not pulling an iphone4, 4s, 5, 5s , 6, 6s out of the bag within a period of 2 months. or weeks. Plus that's hardware, not software. Releases are not frequent as seen in this virus multiplying manner of version numbers and so the Version number epidemic is upon us.

Jafo

on Nov 10, 2011

RiddleKing

reply 21

Your missing the point: There not pulling an iphone4, 4s, 5, 5s , 6, 6s out of the bag within a period of 2 months. or weeks. Plus that's hardware, not software..

You missed the point.

Look under the 'Leopard' / whatever...and look at OS version numbers.

Windows is almost at '8'

Where's Mac at?

kona0197

on Nov 10, 2011

StevenAus

reply 20

Well, so it's been *less* than a year since the last Firefox 3 version was released.

Actually version 3.6.24 was released 2 days ago.

RiddleKing

on Nov 10, 2011

Jafo

reply 22

Quoting RiddleKing, reply 21Your missing the point: There not pulling an iphone4, 4s, 5, 5s , 6, 6s out of the bag within a period of 2 months. or weeks. Plus that's hardware, not software..

You missed the point.

Look under the 'Leopard' / whatever...and look at OS version numbers.

Windows is almost at '8'

Where's Mac at?

So now we are back to software and not hardware? K good.

Operating systems vs browser upgrades? That debate is broken. Its a browser version update epidemic. A number crunching game that brings back nightmares of my first ever maths lesson at kinder garden. My chrome is at 15, firefox is at 8 and safari at 5. There making a big deal about browser version numbers, not hardware or operating systems. Lets see who goes up to the next integer point within the next few weeks? My bet is on firefox..

The worst part is its extension business is totally F'd now.

StevenAus22

on Nov 10, 2011

kona0197

reply 23

Quoting StevenAus, reply 20Well, so it's been *less* than a year since the last Firefox 3 version was released.

Actually version 3.6.24 was released 2 days ago.

Well, that must be a compatibility version. The other versions have gone from 3 to 8 now.

kona0197

on Nov 10, 2011

RiddleKing

reply 24

The worst part is its extension business is totally F'd now.

Exactly why I will not upgrade from using 3.6.

Savyg

on Nov 13, 2011

RiddleKing

reply 24

Does anyone using Chrome actually care what the version number is though? I mean the difference between 14 and 15 was a new start page.

I don't use Chrome 15, although obviously it's installed. I just use Chrome.

tazgecko

on Nov 14, 2011

Pale Moon 8.0 has been released

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!